The last three decades have shown a marked development in new technologies for storing and retrieving information: microform in the 1960s; online database in the 1970s, and CD-ROM in the 1980s. While microform lacks volatility and multiple access points, preservation programs find it to be ideal storage media: it has a longer life expectancy than…

Describes the development of an expert system for online patent searching that uses menu driven software to interpret the user's knowledge level and the general nature of the search problem. The discussion covers the rationale for developing such a system, current system functions, cost effectiveness, user reactions, and plans for future…

A study of "Grateful Med," an interface to Medline, was conducted at California State University/Northridge to discover how efficiently students enrolled in graduate-level research methods classes in health sciences and communicative disorders could access Medline using Grateful Med, what the average costs would be, and how frequently…